The Truth about Dog Cafés…

Unbelievably I have already been in South Korea for eleven months, and I have only just experienced their fabled “dog cafés” this weekend! The reason for the wait you wonder? A mixture of inadvertent racism and unintentional ignorance I’m afraid! You see…when I was in China, a couple of years ago, I found that the dog café scene was distinctly different – namely that man’s best friend was served to you in a stew, in the middle of the table, with rice, and a beer. To answer your question, yes I do still have nightmares.

But, more about that another time…

Anyway, so when it was suggested to me in Korea, I was dead set against it! Well, as it turns out, the Korean counterpart is somewhat different…it’s just a café with dogs, that you can pet as you drink your hot chocolate! (Oh, and yeah – the dogs are alive, which is a fantastic feature!) So yes, I was pleased – as it certainly posed less of a moral dilemma this time around…it was “hmmm, coffee or tea?” rather than “hmmm…eat some dog stew or go hungry tonight?”

I must say the whole thing was an interesting novelty; sitting with an americano while a couple of dogs lie lovingly in your lap! However, I wouldn’t suggest it for a first date…I can only imagine that a dog taking a shit on your table might turn the romance levels down to approximately -10, or that a dog pissing on your jeans might kill off any of your chances of a second meeting. Unless you’re into that kind of thing. Erm…

Naturally I feel like a bit of lunatic now, as I recall screaming at some friends who asked me to accompany them to the same place a few months ago, “NO! I HAVE BEEN ONCE BEFORE IN CHINA AND THAT WAS QUITE ENOUGH – I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD GO?! WHO ARE YOU? YOU MAKE ME SIIIIIICK!” And all they were doing was going to drink a cup of tea and pet some animals. The word “cringe” doesn’t quite cover it.

At any rate, I will be returning as it was definitely a lot of fun; I just hope next time around the sausage dog doesn’t use my thigh in lieu of a girlfriend. That’s all I ask…

My daughter and I went to Vietnam, they served dog and cat…yes I felt sick. One Asian country has a ‘special holiday’, where they have bred, or capture stray dogs and..you guessed it, they kill them quite violently and eat them…this is a holiday .. A festival… Ok that’s enough, this. as the posts I have read thus far, have been highly entertaining, if not hilarious, so ping goes the follow button.

I’ve actually heard of these dog cafes before, but have never met someone who’s actually been! Definitely sounds like an interesting concept, of course the sticky part is cleanup if a doggy does his business. It seems like all kinds of places are now using dogs! At my friend’s university they actually had a “puppy play center” during finals week. Hahhaha even schools are making use of dogs as “stress relievers”. Maybe we will start to see them in dentist’s offices instead of aquariums?

Ahh…those crazy pet cafes. Have you been to Japan? IT’S EVEN WORSE!! I mean, they’ve got dog, cat and now OWL…YES, I SAID O-W-L…cafes. Just like in Korea, you go there to eat and (gawk at) pet the animals. To the natives of the country, it’s considered a novelty and quite cute. However, to me, it’s a bit of animal cruelty…like the cats/dogs/insert-animal-name-here are being exploited for the customer’s selfish pleasure. In Tokyo, there’s a new Owl Cafe that opened up where customers can choose their favorite owl and have it perch on their shoulder or arm while they are having their coffee and cake set. I am not against anybody visiting these cafes, but I personally would never set foot in one…Perhaps it’s a good thing that I can use my allergies as an excuse to not go to one of these places. Hmmm…